Members interested in pitching a nonprofit (i.e., becoming a “Grant Champion”) should fill out the PYP Grant Request Form by 12 pm on September 8, 2023. Up to four members can join together to pitch one nonprofit as a team. If more than three Grant Request Forms are submitted, members will vote to select which three charities they want to have pitched to them. If you are selected to be a Grant Champion, you will get to pitch to your fellow members, plan two follow up events (both during the six-week discovery period, with at least one being virtual) for members to learn more about your nonprofit, and follow up to gain support (i.e., votes!)

Pitches will be made by our Grant Champions to fellow PYP members at our annual Pitch Night, which we’re planning as an in-person event in October.  All pitches should be accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation (or other visual presentation), which will be displayed during your pitch. Your pitch should include details about the nonprofit, the problem the nonprofit seeks to solve, and the project, program, or effort for which you are seeking funding. You may display and/or hand out written and/or audio visual materials that you or the nonprofit have prepared.  All pitches should be no more than 15 minutes and will be followed by a 5-minute Q&A session. Representatives from the nonprofit  are not allowed to be present at the pitch, though they may help provide information, resources, or materials for you to use in your pitch or handout to members. The PYP Seattle board is available to assist with your pitch preparation by providing feedback and advice on your slide presentation and we will host an optional practice session for all Grant Champions prior to Pitch Night.

Grant Request Forms are submitted and presentations are made approximately 5 weeks later at Pitch Night. Voting takes place online approximately 7 weeks after Pitch Night. The time between pitching and voting allows the pitching member to field follow-up questions, host follow-up sessions, etc. The winning nonprofit will receive their check approximately 2 weeks after voting.  The entire process lasts between 12 – 14 weeks.

Congratulations! Your nonprofit will receive the money you secured directly from PYP Seattle. The Grant Champion(s) who pitched the nonprofit that wins the first place grant award will be asked to update the membership about the nonprofit and the grant at Pitch Night the following year.

All grantees must have 501(c)3 status and grant awards must be used to directly support the local King County community.

First place grant winners need to wait 2 grant cycles/years before reapplying.  If your organization isn’t chosen to receive the first place grant, you can apply again in the next grant cycle.

Our board has developed a policy to avoid any conflicts of interest and ensure fairness and equity amongst Grant Champions. The policy is as follows:

If a PYP Seattle Board Member becomes a Grant Champion in any grant cycle, or if it is deemed she has a vested interest in one or more of the nonprofits included in that grant cycle, she shall be considered a Conflicted Board Member (“CBM”) and removed from involvement in all administrative duties of that grant cycle. Vested interest scenarios include, but are not limited to: a Board Member who may be a client or recipient of services offered by a grant cycle nonprofit, a Board Member who may be a board member of a grant cycle nonprofit, or a Board Member who may be related to a board member of a grant cycle nonprofit. 

Administrative duties that will be removed from the CBM are the following: 

• Communication to the Grant Chair and to the membership regarding the grant cycle
• Communication to Grant Champions regarding the grant cycle on behalf of PYP 
• Knowledge of follow-up events before they are shared with group
• Board member responsibilities during the Pitch practice nights and feedback (NOTE: The CBM may be a participate in the practice night as a Grant Champion)
• Voting process (no access to voting system or vote tallies until results are announced)
• Winner phone calls and results announcement
• Other duties as determined by remaining board members. 

The CBM shall be allowed to participate in all aspects of Pitch Night itself (with the exception of access to the other Grant Champions’ presentation slides), including:

• Agenda, flow and process
• Tech logistics

If the Grants Chair becomes a Grant Champion, either an interim Grants Chair will be appointed or Grants Chair duties will be assumed by remaining board members.  

The CBM will not have access to any PYP email, software tools (Survey Monkey, JotForms), or online accounts for all items related to pitches and voting.

Yes. We’ve set up this process based on what we think will work best; but if something isn’t working in practice, we’ll address it.